拍品專文
IN 1929 CALDER HAD A LARGE SOLO SHOW IN BERLIN AT THE GALERIE NEUMANN - NIERENDORF, FOR WHICH A WELL-ILLUSTRATED CATALOGUE LISTING ALL THE WORKS SHOWN WAS PRODUCED, AND MANY ARTICLES ABOUT CALDER WERE PUBLISHED IN THE GERMAN PRESS. THESE ENTHUSIASTIC REVIEWS WERE SOME OF THE FIRST SERIOUS EVALUATIONS OF CALDER AS AN ARTIST. EMIL SZITTYA WROTE IN KUNSTBLATT: "A FEW WEEKS AGO PASCIN INTRODUCED ME TO AN AMUSING MAN, CONSTANTLY LAUGHING, WHO HAD AN OLD-FASHIONED MOUSTACHE. HE DESCRIBED HIM AS THE MOST INTERESTING AMERICAN SCULPTOR...ONE EXPECTS ALMOST NOTHING FROM AMERICANS IN THE AREA OF ART AT THE OUTSET. UNJUSTLY, AS CALDER IN FACT PROVES, CALDER IS AN ARTIST...I SOUGHT OUT CALDER IN PARIS, FOUND NOT A STUDIO LITTERED WITH CLUMPS OF CLAY, PLASTER FIGURES AND GREEK AND ROMAN MOLDS, BUT RATHER A WORKSHOP. MR. CALDER BUSTLED ABOUT LIKE A FATHER WHO HAS JUST WRAPPED TOYS FOR THE CHRISTMAS TREE, SEEKING WOOD AND WIRE TO PLAY WITH. CALDER MAKES SCULPTURES OUT OF WIRE. THESE ARE ACTUAL PLASTIC SCULPTURES ALTHOUGH MANY REGARD THEM AS FRIVOLITIES."(E. SZITTYA IN KUNSTBLATT, "ALEXANDER CALDER", JUNE 13, 1929, PP.185-6).
WHILE IN BERLIN IN APRIL 1929 FOR HIS ONE-MAN-SHOW AT THE GALERIE NEUMANN-NIERENDORF THE YOUNG CALDER MET DR. HANS CRLIS, AN ART HISTORIAN WHO DIRECTED A FILM ON THE ARTIST AS PART OF THE SERIES ARTISTS AT WORK. ON THIS OCCASION CALDER CREATED THE PRESENT WORK AND GAVE IT TO DR. CRLIS AS A PRESENT. THE SCULPTURE REMAINED IN THE SAME FAMILY EVER SINCE.
THE PRESENT WORK IS ACCOMPANIED BY THE PREPARATORY STUDY (SEE FIG.1)
WHILE IN BERLIN IN APRIL 1929 FOR HIS ONE-MAN-SHOW AT THE GALERIE NEUMANN-NIERENDORF THE YOUNG CALDER MET DR. HANS CRLIS, AN ART HISTORIAN WHO DIRECTED A FILM ON THE ARTIST AS PART OF THE SERIES ARTISTS AT WORK. ON THIS OCCASION CALDER CREATED THE PRESENT WORK AND GAVE IT TO DR. CRLIS AS A PRESENT. THE SCULPTURE REMAINED IN THE SAME FAMILY EVER SINCE.
THE PRESENT WORK IS ACCOMPANIED BY THE PREPARATORY STUDY (SEE FIG.1)